In addition to the CDAS Mapping and Validation tables and the Finance Number Control Master file, other master data sources and codes supply important edit and validation information to the accounting process. The following is a brief description of several key data sources and codes. 4-6.1
Installation Master File
The Installation Master File (IMF) is an extract of the FNCM Oracle database. It is a flat file that contains about one half of the FNCM data attributes. The purpose of the file is to provide legacy systems, not directly interfaced with FNCM, organizational hierarchy information needed to edit and validate accounting transactions and generate reports. Eventually all IMF functions will reside within the FNCM.
4-6.2
Edit and Master File
The Edit and Validation (E&V) Master File is used by the Payroll and Retirement systems. It provides the master reference source of information needed to process, edit, and validate payroll transactions and generate required reports. Data elements in the FNCM, if applicable, are extracted and posted to the Postal Facility Record (Segment 76) of the E&V Master File.
4-6.3
Oracle Legacy Account Master File
The Oracle Legacy Account Master File (xxgl-legacy-accounts-master-t) contains all of the legacy account numbers and related attributes needed for validating and processing accounting transactions and generating financial reports.
4-6.4
Labor Distribution Code
The labor distribution code (LDC) is assigned to each Postal Service employee. The LDC is a 2-digit code that identifies workhours by function. The LDC is also used to distribute labor costs to various Financial
Performance Report (FPR) lines. National workhour reports are created for management to use for planning budgets and controlling resources. Employee LDCs are maintained in the Eagan ASC Employee Master File (EMF).
LDC activity has three levels of responsibility: Headquarters, ASC, and field. a. Headquarters determines coding structure, changes, additions, and
deletions that require programming.
b. The ASC maintains listings that identify the Postal Service installation and LDC for each employee by finance number as well as
alphabetically.
c. The field is responsible for assigning correct labor distribution codes and maintaining their validity.
4-7.1 Corporate Data Acquisition System
4-6.5
Standard Journal Numbering System
A 4-digit number is used to identify all journal voucher entries. The first digit of the journal voucher number generally identifies the type of transaction, as shown in the table below.
JV Number
(first digit) Transaction Group
1xx.x Disbursements.
2xx.x Accruals and estimates. 3xx.x Reversals of accruals.
4xx.x Retail accounting and other revenue transactions.
5xx.x Cash transactions.
6xx.x Stamp accountability.
7xx.x Receivable, international accounts, motor vehicle depreciation accounts, and other miscellaneous transactions.
8xx.x Accounting transfers. 9xx.x Nonstandard journals.
The second and third digits of the JV number indicate specific relationships of similar transactions. For example JV 121.0 is related to JV 122.0. The first digit, 1, represents disbursements approved, the second digit, 2, indicates the type of disbursement (in this case payroll) and the third digit, 1 or 2, identifies the pay period of disbursement. A fourth digit, if other than zero, in most cases is used to record adjustments to the recurring standard JV.
Headquarters Accounting determines if a new journal voucher number is to be established. The Eagan ASC updates the JV table that contains the lists all of the valid JV numbers.
4-7 Maintenance
4-7.1
Introduction
Performing maintenance to support business changes or correcting identified errors affecting the OGL and Master data sources involves several steps. Initially, once a maintenance requirement is identified, approval of the maintenance must be obtained from the appropriate person.
The “appropriate person” varies based on the type of maintenance that needs to be performed and in most cases the particular values involved. For
example, adding a new legal entity value would involve a higher level of approval authority than adding a new finance number. Identifying who
performs the maintenance and communicating the maintenance request to that individual is a central requirement of the maintenance process.
Once the maintenance is complete, additional activities are performed in areas which may be impacted by the maintenance.
The OGL-to-ADM interface ensures that every time journals are posted in OGL, the accounting data will post to ADM as well. In addition, the interface ensures that every time account balances are changed (e.g., as the result of a Move/Merge), the balance change accounting information will be reflected in the ADM. OGL contains an Oracle Legacy Account Master File which holds static data attributes for all legacy account numbers and the mapping of those numbers to associated OGL account values. There are separate mapping tables with mapping information for each of the OGL accounting flexfield segments.
Hierarchy information is maintained in the following two places in the OGL: a. Hierarchies relating to reporting directly out of the OGL is maintained
via parent/child relationships in the value sets underlying the segments of the accounting flexfield. Any relationship or hierarchy involving values in the Oracle accounting flexfield are maintained in this manner. b. Other hierarchy information — relating to data attributes associated
with legacy account values or finance numbers — is maintained in the data attributes associated with the legacy data in the appropriate Account Master table in the OGL.
Maintenance updates are posted to an intranet site where parties may inform themselves of maintenance activity. Finance number and budget entity maintenance is performed in FNCM. Maintenance requests must be communicated in advance of when maintenance is scheduled to be
performed in Oracle. Maintenance requests may be in the form of an e-mail message or written communication. All maintenance in Oracle is performed at a single point in the system. Maintenance changes flow through to all affected systems automatically using scheduled feeds. Scheduled maintenance minimizes “timing” errors in which one element of the
accounting system is aware of maintenance changes and others are not. All parties that need to be informed of maintenance changes must be proactive in checking the Maintenance Web site.
The following flowcharts and detailed descriptions in the following sections further explain the value and hierarchy maintenance process and the validation and system access maintenance process.
4-7.2
Value and Hierarchy Maintenance Process
4-7.2.1
Overview
Exhibit 4-7.2.1 (see page 51) contains a flowchart for the value and hierarchy maintenance process.
4-7.2.2
Detailed Description
The value and hierarchy maintenance process includes maintenance to Oracle General Ledger accounting flexfield values, legacy data (finance number, account number, and all associated data elements), all hierarchy definitions, and any other mapping or validation maintenance. All value and hierarchy maintenance occurs in the system at the beginning of each month. This is to minimize the impact on end-user system performance.
4-7.2.2 Corporate Data Acquisition System
Furthermore, the majority of maintenance occurs during month-end processing. The steps for the value maintenance process are as follows:
1. Identify Maintenance Requirement
A systems accountant, Headquarters staff, or other authority identifies, mandates, or establishes a requirement to perform maintenance on the system. This maintenance requirement may be the result of any of the following:
H Identification of a configuration or setup error, or previous maintenance that has been incorrectly performed.
H Reorganization.
H Reporting requirement change (e.g., hierarchy or range requirements). H Creation, retirement, or change of a business concept or entity that is
associated with one or more data element values.
2. Communicate Maintenance Request
All maintenance requires approval prior to its implementation. Depending on the scope and nature of the maintenance requirement, the person
responsible for approving the requirement request differs.
3. Correct Error in Request and Obtain Further Justification
If the request is rejected, the maintenance requestor who submitted the maintenance request for approval reviews the reason for the rejection of that request. Based on the nature of the rejection reason, the requestor either corrects the error made in the request or obtains further documentation to justify the maintenance.
It is also possible for the maintenance requestor to decide that the maintenance is no longer required and terminate the process.
4. Approve Maintenance Request?
All maintenance requests require approval before the maintenance occurs. Depending on the scope and nature of the maintenance requirement, the person responsible for approving the request differs. Approvers review maintenance requests and determines whether the maintenance is justified and appropriate, and either approve or reject the maintenance request based on this assessment. Maintenance request approvers are generally members of Headquarters Accounting staff in the case of maintenance that has a broad impact, such as:
H Maintenance to the following Oracle accounting flexfield segments: legal entity, natural account, function, Future Use 1, Future Use 2. H Changes to the mapping of legacy accounts to Oracle accounts. Eagan senior Accounting staff may approve “lesser” maintenance tasks (i.e., those with a less granular scope of impact), such as maintenance to the budget entity Oracle accounting flexfield segment.
5. Communicate Maintenance Request Rejection and Reason
If the maintenance request is rejected, the maintenance approver
communicates the fact of rejection as well as a reason for the rejection to the maintenance requestor.
6. Communicate Maintenance Requirement to Implementer
Once the maintenance request has been approved, the maintenance approver communicates the requirement for maintenance to the systems accountant or senior systems accountant in Eagan to perform the maintenance. This generally is in the form of an e-mail message.
7. Which Type of Value Requires Maintenance?
Depending on the type of value maintenance that needs to be performed, different activities will take place. The three types of value maintenance are: H Legacy finance number.
H Legacy account.
H Oracle General Ledger accounting flexfield.
Value maintenance refers to any of the following maintenance activities with respect to the above types:
H Creating a new value.
H Altering of an existing value(s) or “moving” data associated with one value to a new value or to another existing value.
H Disabling of an existing value, either on its own or as a result of “moving.”
Depending on the nature of the maintenance request, multiple activities may be required. For example, in the event of a new Oracle natural account value being created, mapping information from legacy accounts must be changed in order for CDAS to be able to utilize the new Oracle natural account value.
8. Perform Change in Oracle Account Master
Although the primary impact of maintenance to Oracle accounting flexfield values is to the value sets in the general ledger, any changes to the Oracle accounting flexfield values may also require a corresponding change to the Oracle Account Master (OAM) table.
For example, if a value is being disabled in the natural account segment of the accounting flexfield, any mapping information contained in the Oracle Account Master table must be disabled in addition to the value being disabled in the general ledger value set.
9. Perform Change in Oracle Value Set
The primary impact of a maintenance requirement that affects one or more values in the OGL accounting flexfield is to perform maintenance in the value set associated with the affected segment(s).
For example, if the maintenance requires the creation of a new natural account value, a new value would be created in the natural account general ledger value set.
4-7.2.2 Corporate Data Acquisition System
10. Which Segment Requires Change?
Depending on which segment of the OGL accounting flexfield requires maintenance, the maintenance activities differ. The segments involved in this decision are as follows:
H Budget Entity, Legal Entity, and Function segments, go to step 12. H All other segments (natural account, Future Use 1, Future Use 2), go to
step 15.
11. Perform Change in FNCM
All maintenance to legacy finance numbers needs to be performed first in the FNCM. Creation of new values, modification of the data elements associated with existing values, or disabling of old values can all occur as a result of the maintenance requirement.
12. Perform Change in Oracle Account Master Table
If maintenance on legacy data affects Core data attributes as described earlier, then maintenance also needs to be performed on the Oracle Account Master table. The OAM table contains the Core data attributes. This step is required in order for the FNCM and OAM data to be in sync as a result of the maintenance.
13. Perform Move/Merge in Oracle
All maintenance on the Budget Entity, Legal Entity, or Function segments of the OGL accounting flexfield that involves the “moving” of a value must be followed by a move/merge if applicable. For example, if the maintenance requirement is to disable an “old” value X, and create a new value Y, then the balances associated with the old value must be moved to the new value.
14. Perform Change in Oracle Budget Entity Table
If maintenance on legacy data affects core data attributes as described earlier, then maintenance also needs to be performed on the Oracle Account Master table. The OAM table contains the core data attributes.
15. Does Maintenance Have Impact on Reporting?
Value maintenance may very well have an impact on one or more reports depending on its nature. For example, if a value is “moved” as the result of a reorganization, then all reports that specifically utilize the moved value must be altered to reflect the change.
16. Perform Maintenance on Affected Report(s)
The systems accountant or senior systems accountant performs maintenance on all reports affected by the value maintenance change.
17. Copy Oracle Account Master to CDAS Account Master
An automated daily process copies data from the Oracle Account Master to the CDAS Account Master, keeping the two account master tables in sync. This process provides the following information to CDAS:
H Legacy account number and related data attributes. H Finance number and related data attributes.
H Corresponding (mapped) Oracle General Ledger accounting flexfield code combination.
H Effective dates.
18. Copy CDAS Account Master to Subledger Account Master
Following the Oracle Account Master-to-CDAS Account Master process described above, another daily process copies the CDAS Account Master to each of the subledger systems. This process provides the following
information to CDAS:
H Legacy account number and related data attributes. H Finance number and related data attributes.
H Effective dates.
19. Post All Maintenance Changes to the Web Site
Every day, information about all maintenance that has been performed is posted to a Web site where interested parties may monitor the result of the maintenance that has been performed.
4-7.3